NFC Notes: Andy Dalton, Baker Mayfield, Buccaneers, Panthers, Saints

Buccaneers

Following a huge win on the road at Detroit in Week 2, the Buccaneers lost at home to the Broncos. Tampa Bay QB Baker Mayfield believes they can learn a lesson from this loss after not preparing with as much urgency as possible. 

“You have to prepare like you’re playing in a playoff game every week, or else this can happen,” Mayfield said, via Scott Smith of the team’s website. “We got our asses kicked, physicality-wise, execution-wise, all over the board for us. It’s a good lesson for our team, for the young guys who haven’t seen it before, for what you need to be prepared for, how detailed we need to be. For it to happen this early on, I’m going to take the positives from it and takes this one on the chin. There’s nothing else to do besides that, and go from there.”

Panthers

Carolina QB Andy Dalton led the team to their first win of the season in Dalton’s first start after they benched QB Bryce Young. Dalton believes their performance signifies what they are capable of doing every week.

“I mean, it shows what we can do,” Dalton said, via Darin Gantt of the team’s website. “And I think that’s for us, it’s like, all right, we showed what our standard is now, we know what we can do and the goal is to be able to prove that each week. And for us, this was a big win, first one of the year and now it’s like, OK, let’s go. We know the possibilities out there. We’ve got to go play to that standard.”

• Panthers HC Dave Canales confirmed that Dalton will start against the Bengals: “Andy is our quarterback. He gives us our best chance to win. He’s our quarterback for the Bengals.” (David Newton)

Saints

Following a strong 2-0 start to the season, the Saints lost a close one at home against the Eagles where they only mustered 12 points. New Orleans WR Rashid Shaheed reflected on missed opportunities and described what happened on Philadelphia’s game-sealing interception. 

“We felt like we left a lot of plays out there,” Shaheed said, via ESPN’s Katherine Terrell. “When you lose in that way, you always kind of reflect on it. But we’ve got to let this one go. Tough one of course, but we’ve got to move on to next week.”

“I don’t really know what happened. It was just a poorly executed play, and they were able to seal the game. That one stings. But we know it’s a long season and we’ve got to bounce back.”

Saints QB Derek Carr spoke on their frustration following the loss but knew it wouldn’t be smooth sailing all season.

“You knew adversity would happen at some point,” Carr added. “You’re pissed because you lost. You’re mad at that. You want to win all these games. But at the end of the day, we played a really good football team.”

“You’ve got to take their hope away,” Shanahan said, via ESPN’s Nick Wagoner. “You give [Rams quarterback Matthew] Stafford too much hope [and] you put a ball in his hands at the end, it’s not a situation you want to be in.”

“That’s where I thought we had a chance to run away with it, not give them any hope. That gave them a lot of hope. Got them back in it … those are three big plays in the game.”

“It was unacceptable,” Warner added. “We can’t do that. We can’t beat ourselves. Can’t make those types of mistakes again. All three phases have got to play better. We’ll look at the tape, fix it, and move on.”

• Saints HC Dennis Allen said DE Chase Young and DE Cam Jordan will continue to rotate and split time to keep both healthy: “You’re probably going to see a little bit more of Chase and Carl … Cam is still a vital part of what we do. … it’s no disrespect towards Cam, but it’s kind of how this game goes at some point in time.” (Katherine Terrell)